The Belleville Historical Society will dedicate a new monument
to Private Hermanus Brown at the old Belleville Dutch Reformed
Church at 10 a.m. July 4, 2015.

Private
Hermanus Brown was the first known soldier of Nutley to give his life in service
to his new country. He is buried at the Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery alongside
more than five dozen local veterans of the American Revolution.

JUNE 2015 -- A few weeks ago, dignitaries and
residents gathered at the town monuments on Memorial Day to remember
and honor those who had faithfully served their country.

A half century earlier dignitaries and
residents had gathered in front of Nutley High School and unveiled a
new monument. There the excited crowd of 250 admired the massive
boulder with the bronze plaque, the work of the Yantacaw Chapter of
the Daughters of the American Revolution.

They were there to proudly dedicate the
memorial to the first men of the township who had served the new
nation, the ten men of Nutley known to have fought in the
Revolutionary War. Mayor Harry Chenoweth called the monument "a
magnificent achievement"..."for the Town of Nutley this
memorial-dedicated to these men who first answered the call of their
country".

Last
September an out of state visitor contacted the Belleville
Historical Society and requested a tour of the historic Belleville
Dutch Reformed Church cemetery, the final resting place of sixty-six
Revolutionary War soldiers. The visitor was the 5-x great grand
daughter of Henry Brown, whose name is the first name engraved on
the Nutley plaque.

Henry Brown lived in the Spring Garden section
of town and served as a Lieutenant in the 1st Regiment of the Essex
County Militia. He is buried in the Dutch Church cemetery.

The Historical Society was then provided with
contact information for other Brown family members who could provide
greater details on the family history. The results of several months
of correspondence with Brown's descendants and research at the New
Jersey Historical Society is making this year's 4th of
July especially meaningful.

Under the cover of darkness, shortly
after midnight on June 7, 1780, the colony of New Jersey was
invaded by a massive army from New York. Commanded by German General
Wilhelm von Knyphausen, the force of 3,000 German and 3,000 British
soldiers landed in Elizabeth. For the record the Germans usually
referred to as "Hessians" and "mercenaries" -- were not.

The Germans were from half a dozen different
German kingdoms were allies of Great Britain by treaty. They were
the regular German army, fighting under German generals and German
flags. King George himself, although born in England, was of German
descent and was at the same time both King of England and prince of
the German kingdom of Hanover. So American troops have been dealing
with Germans long before Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge.

General von Knyphausen believed he now had the
opportunity to destroy George Washington and his army at Morristown.
The winter of 1780 had been the most severe in 100 years. The
Continental Army had been devastated by the cold, disease, lack of
food and desertion. Von Kynphausen's spies assured the general that
Washington's army was about to mutiny.

Von Kynphausen was confident that he would be
the one to finally put an end to the American rebellion and then be
rewarded with royal honors. The march from Elizabeth to Morristown
was expected to be swift with little local resistance. However
shortly after the invaders landed, they were spotted by American
scouts. Riders were sent out to alert Washington at Morristown and
to summon the Essex and Morris County Militias.

The Second River (Belleville) Dutch Reformed
Church served as the local military headquarters. The mostly Dutch
village of Second River was a patriot stronghold. A guard was kept
in the church steeple along with an old mortar (left over from the
French and Indian War) to be fired if needed to alert the militia.

The local militia unit was commanded by Captain
Abraham Spear who's farm was located along present day Chestnut
Street in Nutley. The blast of the mortar in the middle of the night
sent the men scurrying out of their beds and reaching for their
muskets and powder horns.

The church bells began to ring and the hundred
men of the militia formed ranks quickly. Among them was Lieutenant
Henry Brown, his 18 year old son Hermanus "Manus" who had just
joined the militia, and Henry's cousins Issac and John Brown. The
company marched off under orders of Brigadier General Philip van Cortlandt, commanding officer of the Essex County Militia, to take
up positions at Connecticut Farms (Union).

At 9 a.m., the enemy appeared and the militiamen
engaged in what would be a furious three hour battle. Greatly
outnumbered and outgunned the Americans withdrew into the woods but
they had successfully halted General Knyphausen's advance. Later
that afternoon George Washington and the Continental Army arrived
and planned a counteroffensive. Von Knyphausen was surprised and
concerned by the stiff American resistance and the growing number of
militia reinforcements arriving. He decided to order a retreat of
his troops back to their boats at Elizabeth.

General Washington issued an order that three
regiments were to pursue the enemy from three different positions.
General van Cortlandt was to take the Essex County militia and
attack from the left flank, with the Continental Army and the Morris
militia taking the center and right flanks.

The Americans pursued the retreating enemy
across a sweeping meadow. Unknown to the Americans, hidden in the
woods at the end of the meadow the enemy had set up a line of
artillery to cover their retreat. As the militiamen and Continentals
charged across the fields a barrage of cannon fire rained down on
them from the woods.

Private Hermanus Brown, only 18, musket in
hand, bravely charged across the open field towards and against the
worlds most powerful army. The youthful Brown must have felt like
fellow militiaman Ashbed Green, who described the fiery charge
across the meadow, writing in his diary, "no thunderstorm I have
ever witnessed, either in loudness of sound or the shaking of the
earth, equaled what I saw and felt in crossing that meadow".

As the pursuit continued, in the hail of
cannonballs, tragically one found its mark and tore into the young
patriot killing him instantly. Hermanus Brown's brief military
career ended just twelve miles from his home.

Von Knyphausen and his men boarded their boats
and returned to New York. The Americans gathered their wounded and
dead. The dead were always buried on the battlefield. That is unless
they were close enough to home and there was someone to return the
body. As fate would have it, Hermanus' father and cousins were there
in the heat of the battle providing them with the sad opportunity of
returning his body home for a proper burial.

Private Hermanus Brown was buried in the
cemetery of the Dutch church where he had been baptized eighteen
years earlier on a cold December morning. His tombstone read, "Hermanus,
son of Henry and Rachel Brown, died, 8 June, 1780, in the 18 year of
his age".

The stone bore an epitaph that read "Behold me
here, as you pass by, Who died for Liberty, From British tyrants now
I'm free, My friends prepare to follow me". The war continued for
three more years after his death. Private Hermanus Brown was the
first known soldier of Nutley to give his life in service to his new
country.

The latest edition includes additional
information on Belleville in the American Revolution, War of 1812,
Civil War, WWI, WW II, Korea, Vietnam and peacetime casualties.

In the last century,
Belleville lost 157 sons while in service to our country. This
collection, gathered from newspaper clippings and other sources
collects what we know about these young men in an effort that their
sacrifice not be forgotten.

The first edition of this
book resulted in several town streets being named for our local
heroes and the names of the fallen being etched into the war
memorial on Union Avenue. The latest edition has
added information and been arranged chronologically.

A compilation
of information documenting the participation of the New Jersey towns
of Belleville and Nutley in the American Civil War. Publication
includes information on six local soldiers killed in action in the
War Between the States, plus information on the battle campaigns in
which they gave up their lives. Also lists information on
participation in various New Jersey and other state militias by
local men.